Do I Need To Nail Hardwood Floor To The Joists

You ll need to figure out how to lay hardwood floors for your room size shape.

Do i need to nail hardwood floor to the joists.

First renail the existing plywood subfloor so that the old nails are tight and add new nails to achieve a maximum nail spacing of 6 inches. To remedy this situation cut a piece of joist material 2 8 2 10 or 2 12 depending on the circumstances to fit crosswise between the two joists under the soft flooring. Although you can secure inch plywood sheets to the joists in a subfloor with long nails you don t generally need extra long nails for the floor to stay in place. No matter what you do you should eliminate squeaks on the subfloor first by screwing the floor down through the sub floor to the joists anywhere you can hear squeaking.

Countersink all the nails. With hardwood floors drive ring shank or cement coated flooring nails into the seams between boards. Generally nails 6d ring or screw shank or 8d common should be spaced 6 inches on center along supported panel edges and 12 inches. A flooring contractor howard brickman responds.

You should also lay red rosin paper on the subfloor before you apply the wood to eliminate squeaks caused by the subfloor and hardwood rubbing together. Nails approximately 2 inches in length pass through the inch plywood and still provide plenty of length to secure the plywood to the joists. To fix a floor covered with deep pile carpet drive a wallboard screw through the carpet and pad into the floor joist. If you re silencing floorboards you can place the screws strategically to stop the squeaking but if the subfloor is lifting you need to find the floor joists with a stud finder and sink 2 inch.

To avoid nail pops pullouts and shiners nails that barely hit the joist all of which can cause squeaks use the correct nail size and spacing and ensure the nails penetrate the floor joists and sink fully. If the subfloor is stiff enough there is no reason why solid nail down strip flooring can t be run parallel to the joists. Engineered flooring can be installed above grade at grade and below grade level do not install hardwood flooring in bathrooms. Separate wooden bridging members to eliminate noise problems.

Mark the walls to show the location of the floor joists.